EXIF Dangers You Should Be Aware Of And How To Avoid Them?

EXIF Data stands for Exchangeable Image File MetaData, which is embedded within the captured photograph captured by any digital camera. EXIF data has the technical information behind a particular click, which helps viewers understand what technical skills and knowledge was used by the photographer to click a picture.

This includes information on camera lens and model, exposure settings, focal length, and regular description of the picture. While such data is a source of both information and knowledge, especially for someone who studies photography, EXIF data can also prove dangerous and threatening to owner privacy. This is because, besides all the technical factors, the EXIF data also include GPS location, owner name, and personal details. Such data is added to retain ownership and copyright over a picture if it ever has to be released on a public platform.

Therefore, it’s vital that EXIF data is edited or wiped out before the image is released on a public image-sharing platform or on a social media profile. And a third-party tool like Photos Exif Editor is an excellent choice for the job, Download it from button below-

What Dangers EXIF Metadata Pose?

Geotags:

Geotags are the coordinates to the location where the picture was taken. Most of the digital camera and phone camera have GPS enabled in settings. So, when an image is clicked, the location of the place it was taken is automatically added to the photo’s EXIF metadata. This location can be used to forge addresses on fraudulent IDs, logins, and accounts.

Moreover, a direct location can be traced to your identity, which again can be misused in the wrong hands. In 2007, a Geotag lad Iraqi militants to conduct a successful mortar attack on American fleet of aircrafts, destroying four hi-tech helicopters. If such a small detail can facilitate in distorting military operations, it can surely do massive damage to an individual’s privacy and safety.

Camera Lens and Serial Numbers:

Image Source: LifeWire

For someone who is not fond of revealing the technique, as well as the technology behind his/her clicked photographs, should be aware that EXIF metadata holds all that information. Thus, it’s always wise to edit these details before making the picture public. Moreover, the camera’s serial number can again be used to trace your identity.

Thumbnail

When we click a picture, a permanent thumbnail is formed. That thumbnail does not reflect any additional edits. For example, if you’ve blurred a part of your image, the thumbnail would not reflect that blur, thus making your edits useless, as well as making you vulnerable to a privacy breach. This part of the thumbnail, where the applied censorship is rendered useless falls under an EXIF danger.

Date & Time

The EXIF data also records the date and the exact time when the picture was taken. This again notifies your activities to anyone who’ll go through that metadata. Giving away your place and time can sometimes be used against your interests by hackers.

Personal Information

In some scenarios, there are specific pictures that also adds personal information of the camera owner, including name and possibly any other contact details. This happens only if that particular person is using a device which has all these details integrated into the software. Many photographers do that on purpose to impose their copyright and also to promote their work on image-sharing platforms. However, it is essential that such data is edited or modified depending on the platform it’s being published. In case any picture with these details in Exif are released publicly, it can cause identity misuse or theft.

Deleting Properties is Not Reliable

A lot of users out there rely on Windows Properties to get rid of EXIF data of the pictures. In Windows, for removing Exif details, one can go to properties and delete them. However, relying on this measure doesn’t help out. The only thing that is removed by deleting Properties is your name and date of the image taken. Just deleting Properties won’t ensure deletion of Geotags, which means, your location would still be traceable via your pictures despite removing picture properties.

In such a scenario, using a tool like Photos Exif Editor for editing image metadata is the best choice.

Photos Exif Editor: One Stop Solution To Your Exif Concerns

Photos Exif Editor is the most flexible and comprehensive tool which helps you edit or remove image metadata. Photos Exif Editor has a three-step process which allows users to either edit or entirely delete metadata from images. Here’s what Photos Exif Editor do for you:

It helps you modify entire EXIF details along with aspects of XMP and IPTC Metadata, which include owner information, image description, and geo-location.

It offers you a choice to make edits on your own and remove metadata from the categories you don’t change.

It also allows you to edit preferred details while keeping the rest intact.

It allows you to clear entire Exif regardless it was pre-embedded or added afterwards.

Under EXIF, IPTS, and XMP, Photos Exif Editor has all the Presets which hold different details in regard to the selected picture. With Photos Exif Editor, you can very well edit all sorts of Geo-tags, Camera settings info, Lens details, personal bio, and even image description.

While some may wish to delete all of these details, on the other hand, some may want to keep some of these intact for promotional reasons. Photos Exif Editor allows the users to make that choice as per preference and use of that particular picture. Besides deleting, editing, and prioritizing metadata, Photos Exif Editor will enable you to restore the previous metadata back. However, this can only be done if the session has not been ended by the user before trying to restore previous metadata.

Photos Exif Editor is the simplest tool one can use to edit or remove Exif details from a picture. By allowing an entire folder to be modified in one session, it becomes highly flexible and time saving for users. For people involved in elaborate photography works, Photos Exif Editor works the best. It allows them to add technical details of images to their photos for informative purposes, as well as offer them a preset to add their own bio and image description. This way, they can promote their pics, as well as their understanding of photography on public platforms. This is how their work is spread and how they get further opportunities.

Photos Exif Editor is available for both Windows and Mac platforms. By offering personalized edits for Exif details and an option to remove it all for better privacy, Photos Exif Editor becomes a highly useful tool, which has got all these features compressed in one single application. As Photos Exif Editor performs these functions within three simple clicks, its usage becomes really easy and makes it a tool absolute worth.

Download Photos Exif Editor

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Antony Blondell

Abhishek Sharma

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